Disclaimer- I don't own Inuyasha, never have and probably never will. The only Inuyasha stuff I own are two DVDs, which you will only get OVER MY DEAD BODY! Also, any quotes I put in belong to the said person.
A/N: Yep, Sesshoumaru is -finally- here for all the people who have been patiently waiting. By the way, anyone willing to become a BETA reader for this story? Having to reread everything all the time is driving me nuts!
* ~ D A R K N E S S ~ ~ B E F O R E ~ ~L I G H T ~ *
By MysticMoon
Chapter 2- The Prophesy
Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance.
-- John Henry Newman
Last chapter:
I don't understand…'
"Kagome-chan!!" a voice exclaimed, breaking her thoughts and eye contact with the ring, which immediately ceased glowing an eerie purple.
~.~.~.~.~
The corners of Kagome's mouth tipped down in a frown. She couldn't hear nor feel the voice in her head anymore.
"Kagome-chan!!!" the person repeated, louder this time.
Kagome, finally recognizing the voice turned and said, "Sango-chan?"
Yes, it was her. A few yards away was Sango, with her arm raised, waving to her friend. She was wearing her regular out fit, instead of the one she wears as a taijiya.
Kagome stood up and waved back. "Sango-chan!! You finally came ba…Ooof!" Kagome's words were cut short when a flying ball of fur hit her midsection with enough force to send her reeling backwards.
"Kagome! I missed you soooo much. I thought I'd never see you again, so I made Sango come back here as soon as possible after the last village." it said, still attached to Kagome's waist.
"Shi…Shippou?" She asked, dazed. The girl blinked twice before, "Shippou!! I'm so glad to see you, too! But hasn't it only been a week since I last saw you two?" Kagome asked teasingly.
"Nooo…it was way longer than that." he denied, shaking his head with a comical look of all knowing wisdom on his face.
"No it wasn't, you just -think- it's longer." said Sango, who had since made her way to the girl and kitsune.
"Well, it doesn't really matter now that you both are here now. Lets go back to the village and you can tell me about all the adventures you've had and other villages that you've helped over some hot tea." Kagome said, smiling at her two friends.
" That sounds great!" they both said, glad to be able to relax after their long traveling.
Shippou settled himself on Kagome's shoulder as they walked. "You should have been with us, Kagome! You should have seen how I fought all those youkai… with Sango helping me of course! Hehehe…" Shippou added after he saw the look Sango gave him. " Ahem…Anyway, on our way back from the last village, we saw the weirdest thing! A hanyou stuck to a tree with an arrow! Me and Sango didn't know whether her was dead or not!"
"Well, it sounds like you two had quite an exciting time while you were gone." Kagome said, sighing softly. She wished she could go with them instead of being confined to her village all the time. The ring on her finger pulsed softly, as if to give her comfort.
~.~.~.~.~Meanwhile, deep within the mountains~.~.~.~.~
In a fortress hidden in the mountains, The Darkness sat cross-legged on the floor after hours of meditating, his body and face hidden in the shadows of the dim room.
'I am almost at my full potential. Then, I will defy that stupid legend and destroy that which stands in my way. Just a few more months to prepare.' he thought to himself, a smirk on its face. 'All these long years, now down to only a few months. With my power, no one can possibly defeat me, not even the silly 'Chosen One' that prediction speaks of. Oh yes…the prophesy…how could I forget…'
In a land and age of chaos
where peace is unattainable
between creatures of the opposite kind,
the scale will start to tip.
The Darkness will come
and the world is plunged in shadows.
Then, the Chosen One, Being of Purity,
will lead an army to fight it,
conquering to lead the world towards the Light
and a time of serenity.
Shorter than most, but holds so much meaning. It is so old that some, humans and youkai alike, actually forgot about it, thinking it to be just a loon's fabrication.
He let out an evil chuckle, 'I may have forgotten, but I was reminded in time. The first occasion I heard it, I thought the drunken fool was just making it up. Good thing I had the sense to be cautious and …forced… all the details out of him.' He gave a sadistic smirk at the memory.
That prophesy turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. Though, the description of 'The Darkness' and what 'it' was planning to do sounded so much like myself and the initial point of my plans that I had to be sure that nothing would get in the way of my ultimate goal.' He liked to think of himself as the most prominent evil in history.
He remembered having to acquire The Orb from those powerful, yet weak against a being such as himself, tiger youkai. The Orb was said to have the power to see the future. 'It was a wonder why I hadn't gone after it before.'
The only reason why everyone didn't come flocking from all over to steal The Orb was because it was nearly impossible to find and it was nearly impossible to defeat the group of tiger youkai that guarded it. 'Nearly being the most important word, in both cases.'
How well he can recall the last tiger youkai that stood against him, surrounded by the bodies of his kind that fought and failed. But most importantly, the gleam of fear and defeat that shone in the warrior's wide eyes. He had smirked at him. He wanted the tiger to see him use the thing he probably spent most of his life protecting from people such as himself.
While the youkai stood stock still, waiting for his death, he had pointedly ignored him and made his way towards The Orb at the end of the room, stepping on bodies to prevent blood from soiling his…disguise. He swiftly took the velvet cloth that covered the magical sphere.
It didn't look like much, really; simply looking like a large, round piece of clear glass on a type of pedestal, but he knew what to do.
His dark, purple eyes stared piercingly at The Orb. "Show me the future of the Feudal Era after…The Darkness…as told in the prophesy, fights…The Chosen One." he enunciated carefully, just in case The Orb decided to tell the wrong future.
The insides of The Orb seemed to swirl and take on a milky color, as most magical objects are prone to do. As it started to clear up, he realized that the tiger youkai, who had been standing quietly in horror, was now charging madly at him. "Stupid youkai, don't you learn anything?" he had said scathingly. He set loose a stream of miasma, hitting the youkai on his left side and turned back to The Orb, trying to block out the agonized scream that pierced his ears.
What he saw made his blood boil. "What?! This does not look like a land of turmoil and gloom!" he hissed. It looked the exact opposite. Green grass. Blue sky. Children playing and laughing. Youkai talking with humans. As if they lived in harmony!! These disgusting scenes reflected from The Orb. 'So…the prophesy was right…well…I'll prove it wrong soon enough.' he thought.
He reached out his hand, fully intending to bring back his hard won prize. But something happened before he could. The supposedly dead tiger youkai had gotten up and swiped at The Orb. If he could not safeguard the powerful item, he would see that it was destroyed before he died.
The Orb was sent crashing down. It was split into a thousand pieces.
As his eyes bled red, he destroyed the offender, this time, making sure he was unrecognizable afterwards. "Damn youkai." he whispered, and left without a backward glance.
Back in the present, he slowly stood up. 'But now…the prophesy surely cannot be right. I am much too powerful. I even have my 'children' here to assist me. I -will- kill The Chosen One.'
"Kukukukukukukukuku…" came Naraku's wicked laughter.
~.~.~.~.~Kagome's village the next day~.~.~.~.~
'Concentrate. Keep the stance straight. Aim carefully. Concentrate. Make sure your feet are spaced just so. Concentrate… Release.' The arrow flew through the air, hitting the dummy at the tiny X, right where the heart would be. Kagome sighed and wiped her brow. She had been doing this for a while now.
"That was great Kagome!," Shippou exclaimed from his perch on the branch of a tree, "You hit the X every time!"
"Thanks, Shippou. I've been doing a lot of practice recently." She him gave him a brilliant smile and walked up to the wooden person and pulled out her arrows embedded in it. "Do you have any idea where Sango might be?"
Shippou scrunched up his face in thought. "I think she went off to take a bath in the hot springs." Kagome nodded in understanding.
"Child! Can ye please help thee?" called Kaede from her hut.
"I'm coming Kaede." Kagome yelled back. "Let's go Shippou." putting the arrows back in her quiver. "Did you need anything, Kaede?" she asked as she walked through the doorway, Shippou behind her, to find the old miko writing something down a piece of parchment.
"Yes child, I need more of these special herbs to make more medicine. The problem is that these herbs are quite hard to come by and the last time I replenished my supply was quite a few years ago." Kaede stated.
Kagome came closer to look at the names of the herbs. "But Kaede, you can't find these herbs anywhere on the east side of the village, where everything else is."
"No, I found these herbs deep in the forest towards the west. A person as old as I cannot venture out that far and no one else knows of these herbs except you, child. Will ye be willing to go?" the old woman asked.
Most of the villagers tended to stay away from the forest on the west of the village. It is said that not too long ago, a dangerous demon lived in that forest and killed many people. Kagome had gone there before as a child, but her mother had come and taken her back before she could go more than a couple of feet. She had been told that there were many youkai in that forest. She had since happily complied never to venture into that forest again.
Kagome thought for a moment. 'What am I to be afraid of? Surely there isn't a killer demon in there. And if there is, no one has heard from it in years. Anyway, if any youkai attack me, I'll have my bow and arrows to protect myself.' "It's no big deal, Kaede, I'll go get the herbs for you." Kagome said, reaching out for the parchment.
"Can I come Kagome?" Shippou asked, tugging on her kimono.
"Shippou, it'll be too dangerous." Kagome said.
"But, Kagome, I can protect you, really I can! I've helped Sango kill youkai before and I know where to go through that forest. Me and Sango have been through there lots of times! That's were the hanyou-stuck-to-the-tree is! I can show you if you let me come!" Said Shippou as he puffed up his chest, trying to look as strong as possible. Then, when that didn't seem to work, he put on his best puppy dog face.
Kagome felt as sweat bead form on her head as she looked at the adorable kitsune. The pout. The pinch-me cheeks. The big eyes. The tears forming… She sighed in defeat. "Alright Shippou…"
~.~.~.~.~Not far away~.~.~.~.~
Behind a tree, Sesshoumaru felt his eyes form into slits as he watched her and the kitsune make their way towards Inuyasha's Forest. 'It's her…the girl from my dreams…' He followed them silently, being careful to keep is aura down. 'Yes…it is her. I'm sure of it. Now I will finally find out what exactly is going on.'
Review Responses:
Ashley- Thanks for reviewing, and I fixed my mistake. I wouldn't have caught that. Thanx!
kawaiikitsune- Hope this chapter explained whether or not Inuyasha's in it or not. Please don't yell at me for Sess not having the biggest part. I promise you that he'll be the first thing you read about in the next chapter!
darkness- Sess is here!…kinda. -_-;; And just for you, I'll force myself to try to squeeze in an extra romantic scene a few chapters from now.
CrazyLady- Where do we get our ideas? Well, I think I got the idea about the whole ring thing from thinking too much. I was in class one day and just started to stare at my mood ring (which has the shape of a wildflower, btw) and somehow, my thoughts turned to Kagome having a magical one. ^_^;
kagomesirene/ fluffballover- I'll try to update ASAP, since I have lots of time to write now that it's spring break.
Me- You've got a sharp eye! Yes it is! I had a heck of a time trying to find out if it came from her right hip or her left. -_-;
A/N: Alright, Sesshoumaru was in this chapter!! Yay!! Please don't kill me for just giving him a paragraph! I just didn't know how to keep going without ruining the cliffhanger! And I've got the next chapter started already, don't worry!
As you can probably tell, I'm incorporating the Inuyasha characters in one by one. OK, right now, I would like to just warn you about my deficiency in the romantic department. That's why I chose to write a fic with romance in it. For the challenge. My sister said I'm not bad, but I personally think I'm hopeless. If anyone could give me some tips about how to write really romantic stuff, please leave it in a review. I like reading mushy stuff myself, but I can't seem to write it. Somehow, I seem to revert to making things sound mysterious and vague. -_-;;
Oh! Can anyone tell me whether 'The Prophesy' sucked or not? I came up with it really late at night. I wouldn't blame you if you thought it did. -_-;